Here, friend, are some catchers that I will be targeting at my 2018 fantasy drafts after the top options are gone. I’m not going to get into the strategy of punting catchers. Been there, half-drunkenly wrote that years ago. Click on the player’s name where applicable to read more and see their 2018 projections. This is a (legal-in-most-countries) supplement to the top 20 catchers of 2018 fantasy baseball. Now, guys and five girl readers, I am not saying avoid catchers like Salvador Perez if they fall, but to get on this list, you need to be drafted later than 200 overall, and, to preemptively answer at least seven comments, yes, I will go around the entire infield, outfield and pitchers to target very late. Anyway, here’s some catchers to target for 2018 fantasy baseball:

Mike Zunino (Yahoo 203; ESPN 221) Actually, think Zunino might be a little overrated if drafted at 203 overall. Since Zunino is someone I would draft eventually, and he is ranked after the top 200, I’ve listed him. I know, I know, not a great way to start things off, but I set some phony parameters, and, consarnit, if I’m not sticking with them!

Austin Barnes (Yahoo 284; ESPN 394) First off, I honestly don’t mind that ESPN only ranked 12 catchers in their top 300. You figure they’re ranking for one catcher leagues, and everyone gets one catcher, that’s 12. Fair enough. Sure, some jackhole will draft Gary Sanchez, use him at UTIL and draft another catcher, but whatevs. As for Barnes, ESPN ranked him way after Grandal, which, ya know, I’m kinda all right with too. Look at me, making peace. The Dodgers said Grandal is the starter, but, like an old man waking up at 4 AM, this could be a fluid situation. If Barnes wasn’t being drafted so late, I’d likely avoid him, but he’s worth the flyer. Why talk so highly of Grandal in Barnes’s blurb? Well, Barnes is more interesting of the two, if he’s off the board around 400 overall.

Chris Iannetta (Yahoo 274; ESPN 336) Here’s a surprising turkey (my new nom de schmo) who is getting no buzz. He had 17 homers with a .254 average in only 89 games last year. This year, he’s the Rockies catcher. Can’t fathom any downside. Not being sarcastic, I really can’t, considering he’s being drafted around that of your random middle reliever and 7th outfielder. By the by, just thought of a celebrity endorsement: Cosby turkeys, now with more tryptophan.

Travis d’Arnaud (Yahoo 300; ESPN 379) If he stays healthy all year, he will hit 20 homers. That ‘if’ is the size of the Grand Canyon from an ant’s perspective.

Tyler Flowers (Yahoo 339; ESPN 384) Below is Anime Grey talking about Tyler Flowers. I’m reminded of Billy Joel when thinking of Anime Grey, “He’s got a way about him, I don’t know what it is, but I have to laugh when he reveals it.” Anyway…

Austin Hedges (Yahoo unranked; ESPN 338) There’s some promising numbers for Hedges. I can’t find them right now. Kidding. He hit .326 with a 15.3% strikeout rate in Triple-A in 2016. The year before, a 10.1% K-rate and a .324 average. He was a special kind of awful last year with a 29.3% K% and a .214 average, but for barely a top 350 overall pick? I’ll take the 18-22 HRs and possibility for a better average. Plus, if he hits a bunch of homers, you can count on a title here called, Over the Fences & Hedges, which would be Kool and lit.

Jorge Alfaro (Yahoo unranked; ESPN 411) I cannot believe more people aren’t picking up what I’m putting down for Alfaro. Go check out my Jorge Alfaro fantasy GIF. We’ll wait for you. Oh, man, that person just got lost in an ad for “Does Smoking Weed Make You More Creative?” It doesn’t, because it causes you to click on random links! Any hoo! If you would’ve returned, you’d be struck by how well Alfaro, uh, struck that ball. He has easy 17-homer power, with more on upside if he’s still developing, which I would assume of a 24-year-old.

Love this list, Grey – your picks closely align with my own late-round targets. Where exactly did you get your Yahoo and ESPN numbers from? (I looked at the ESPN and Yahoo sites trying to find the figures you have cited, but I could not find anything even close to them.) Are those ADPs or rankings of something else?

Not to try and promote you getting poached from this website, but…why the hell hasn’t ESPN or YAHOO hired you as a fantasy baseball guy? Their writing is bad and boring. Cockcroft is occasionally acceptable. Everyone else blows. Boring and lame analysis. You are witty and I think could transition to still being funny while being slightly less offensive on a big box site. Doesn’t make sense.

@Grey: yeah for sure. Overall his rankings still suck. But this year alone right after your rankings came out, let’s see Bauer shot up 50 spots, Castillo as well, Rosario 70 spots just to name a few. I could be cherry picking but the timing was weird. They do still have a lot wrong, just not as wrong as it was before. When your rankings come out you really only update for changes to a players situation. you are pretty confident in your rankings. I feel like ESPN and karabell throw crap on a board and then wait a month to look at your rankings and go shit shit shit Grey is high on Rosario, Castillo, Bauer etc. How did we miss that? And then adjust.

I have the 11th pick in a 12 team, 5×5 league with three keepers. I start with Betts, Rizzo, Harper and I wanted to get your take on how you’d play the first few rounds. Below is a sample of players likely to be on the board for my first picks (# 47 and #50):

It was an experience doing live draft with some experienced people such as Wilymo and Vin.
Started out going Arenado at 4 as trea turner went #3 and then went Kluber as every hitter I wanted like Bellinger, Martinez was gone at 21. Then went Abreu, Hoskins, buxton.

Anyway thanks for opinions. Have another tonight and see if can do better. Have pick 1 so Mr. Trout welcome to my team.

@Earl: Awesome that you’re in there with Vin! I like the pitching a lot, prolly a bit much with Kluber… That’s hurt your OF a bit, I don’t mind to about Polanco, then it’s trouble but infield is sexy… Decent team overall…

@Grey: I hear you about the 4th and 5th outfielders. Thought Bruce might be good for some power and Kiermaier for additional speed. Thinking that if Brinson turns it on, then came maybe put him in at #4 or #5.

So you are saying that I could have started the pitching at Nola which I think was like 6th round and been quite competitive with pitching?

Should be interesting tonight to have #1 pick and take Mr. Trout and then see what is available to me at #24 and #25. Probably will be hard to wait so long between double picks.

In the same league (12-team, 10×10, H2H), I’m talking flipping my Story for another owner’s Schoop…I’ve got Taylor to fill SS, and would have absurd depth at 2B/MI (J-Ram, Odor, Kinsler already in the fold and can start them all with the UTIL slots.

I’m leaning towards getting the best players to keep, regardless of position – would it be overkill to offer Story and a 2nd for Schoop? I’ve got 2 picks in the 2nd. It’s H2H so the Coors factor is less important IMO.

I hadn’t read an ESPN fantasy article in a while, but if you want a good laugh check out the one from the other day where the writers talk about their ideal first 3 rounds. There’s some true gold in there.

Great work my man, quick keeper question concerning pitchers. 12 team h2h categories with obp/avg and qs/wins. Injury prone guys are usually killer in this league and are devalued a bit. Pitching is usually inflated though. You can keel up to 9 total. My hitting is stacked with trout, arenado, goldy, springer, and acuna and devers on minor league 7 dollar no year set yet contracts. My pitching so far is: castillo 2 years at 13/year, luke weaver at 1 year/10 or 2/13, and then either paxton 1 yr/19 or clevinger 1 yr/10. Normally this would be a no brainer and paxton but I’m not sure he’s worth basically twice that of clevinger and his injury history really scares me. I also think he might go for less than 19 in the draft. Keepers are due on sunday, what would you do? Thanks and keep up the good work.

@Acc: I am in a very similar keep forever league with no draft pick penalty (but its 10 teams/6×6 with SLG and OBP, no AVG).

We keep 5 and I will be keeping Treat, Harper, Machado, Springer, Robbie Ray. I’ve got the 4th pick in the draft.

I expect the guy with the first pick to take Ohtani. From looking at other owners rosters, it looks like the following players will be available after keepers are locked in…

Ohtani, Rendon, Hoskins, Severino, Verlander, Carlos Martinez.

So I should end up getting one of Rendon/Hoskins/Severino I think.

None of this prob matters for you ACC. I’m just giving you the above info to describe the reason that I wasn’t planning on grabbing Acuna until the 2nd round. But I’m sure that he is gone before the 17th pick (my second round pick). If he is there, he is mine fo sho. I dunno if maybe Grey is going to ask who your other keepers are for this league. Because for me, if I didn’t have such great young bats, Acuna might be more in consideration for that 4th overall pick I have.

@Acc: Depends who your other keepers are. If you have 4 studs and looking to compete this year, I’d draft the best player to win now, which still might be Acuna. But it’s only 4 keepers so you Acuna might not be kept over who you have now.

@Fungazi 2.0: So I work data mgmt for big pharma. Lots of googling of weird symptoms and medicines during work hours. I get some weird ads on Razz, but that one is by far my fav. Its labeled “25 bizarre woman you won’t believe exist”. I also love the “you won’t believe how hot susan boyle is now” ad. Sure breh. Sureeeee.

@Slappy Jack: Yes! The flying hot dog one was was hard to explain to the wife looking over my shoulder a few weeks ago.

After a solid min of me bumbling around about “fantasy” and “data mining” her response was: “OK creep. Just win us another mortgage payment this year and I won’t ask any more questions about whatever that was”.

Todays ad juxtaposition award goes to ….. California is on Fire- Literally next to Elon Musk Sells 15,000 Flamethrowers in 48 Hours. At least we know who to blame for the fires.
Also, started watching The Five on Netflix. It’s a couple of years old. I know, I’m “catching” up. Pretty decent if you haven’t seen it and it’s only 10 episodes so not a lot of time invested.

In my competetive Scoresheet team, where I had not keept a catcher, I just took Hedges for a couple reason. One he is 25 and a very good defensive catcher that is going to keep him in the lineup and two, I just saw a interview he did recently where he said he worked on his hitting with the hitting coach during the off season and he made acouple changes. He also said that the better catchers catch between 130 and 140+ games and he wants to do that too.

Then he went on the field and Homered in his fist four games. I will take .250+ with maybe 25 HRs.

Would you go SP with the first overall pick and take someone like Robbie Ray, Carlos Martinez, or Yu Darvish or wait longer on pitchers and take another offensive piece like Marcell Ozuna, Hosmer, J-upton?

Im higher on justin turner than most took him in the 5th round. Posey fell so far got him at 109 happy to pull the trigger there. As long as acuna is up right away i should be ok in the OF, he got hit by a pitch yesterday :( i may need some cheap help early on, david Peralta is available, so is winker. So theres a couple of OF bats i could grab. Grabbed frazier at the end, healy is questionable for opening day and ive seen todd frazier start hot and fade before wouldn’t be surprised is thats what he does this year. Overall i think the hitting is fire. Strong on avg, hr, sb.

Pitching i only drafted 5 starters, ill def be streaming a lot especially with health issues. Somehow i have 5 closers, i’ll prob end up cutting whoever looks the worst out of them early on to open up a spot to stream. Polanco and frazier both prolly expendabe for streamers also. the 5 starters i got if healthy should put up solid stats i hope.

How many starts would u estimate you need to make a week to get to around the 1400 ip limit? And what you think of the draft?

@Willy Mo: I’ve been eyeing him and he’s dominating in ST. But he’s never pitched more than 05 innings. So even if he manages to stay healthy, they won’t let him loose for more than 120 IP I would think.

It’s brutal, right? Just when you think you like someone, you’re like, damn, he’s a total ass… Brantley will not be on any of my teams, but Rudy likes him… He never stays healthy (Brantley, not Rudy)… Capi?!

2. now that the water movie won an oscar my wife will agree with watch it. you seen it?

2. btw when people post their whole teams and ask you to evaluate, isn’t that kind of mentally exhausting? It would be my pet peeve if I were you. That and people who complain/criticize when they come to this FREE site for advice. OH AND DON’T GET ME STARTED ON PEOPLE WHO GIVE THE PODCAST NEGATIVE REVIEWS. CAPI!?!?!?

1. Capi! 2. Yeah, it’s solid, I like Call Me By Your Name better, but I’d recommend it 2. Teams don’t bother me, negative reviews are pretty obnoxious since things are free and you’re just being an ingrate with a negative review, but whatever, I don’t look at them anymore, just aggravates me… 3. Someone asked above, I’m not moving him bc he was in a tier I would draft already and Salazar could return at some point and replace him

Alright, I’m gonna do it, I’m ask a catcher question. Based on ADP and value right now in my 15 teamer it’s Ryan Zimmerman or Salvador Perez at pick 170 (12th round). Who ya got? Could also go Josh Bell I suppose.

You read about Barnes elbow issues? I’m sure you have. Does that concern you on draft day? Most likely he gets 2nd base eligibility in RCL’s ( I don’t know fantrax requirements). Is that enough to not change where he lands in the draft?

Pretty sure he has 2B eligibility everywhere…. I see him being drafted earlier than I would take him (Oaktown took him in the 17th round, which felt like a reach), but I would draft him since he’s kinda interesting 5 category guy if he were around a little later… I do believe Roberts when he says Grandal’s the starter, Barnes could see time at 2B which opens up ABs…

Seriously though I think it will be Taylor and Puig most days with best matchup and/or hottest bat in the 3rd slot. Owning any of the 3rd OF’s in LA in an RCL is dumb. They are a batty call position which is good because you can look at the pitcher handidness and know days in advance who will most likely be starting. Kemp is only interesting IF he performs well enough he gets traded and gets everyday at bats or he performs too well and he never leaves the LA line-up…or he sucks and gets pleasure time

1. My Irish friend Shane calls and spells it Nakiavale, rhyming like Machiavelli.
2. ‘Member when last you year you re-named the places I visited? This place could be Naked Valley or or Dave Valle if you like?

The Barnes pick was probably a little early. I’ve always gotten catchers very late. The last two years I’ve missed on my guesses and gotten absolutely nothing out of the catcher slot. Thought I’d try and get at least one guy who doesn’t suck. Barnes production when he played was very good. I heard Farhan Zaidi on the radio say he might actually play more places than just C and 2B. Almost talked about him like a super utility. They like his bat and they want to try and get him 400+ PAs.

Did you see Jorge Soler went at 282?

I read Todd Frazier said he’s going to hit .275 this year. He’s going with the Rizzo two strike choke up. He did improve his overall approach. I’d take .250 from him for sure.

Barnes is okay, really though the difference between him and a catcher who is still on board? Meh, maybe, but marginal… Soler is a little early there, but anywhere from 300 to 350 is prolly right so not huge… Frazier won’t hit above .235, I’ll take a bet on it

@Grey: Maybe could have done better there. If he does get the ABs he should be above average. 17th round is usually like a 3-5 dollar player so it doesn’t take a whole lot to at least earn the pick. Lost opportunity cost maybe but won’t kill me.

There are a couple of picks I might take back. I like Inciarte and the BA and he says he’s going to run more, but my team is looking light homers and heavy steals. Legit OF power dried up pretty fast.

I also kind of got caught half way with closers. Got one and then waited too long. Going to have to burn a few picks trying to develop a CIW situation.

Just for fun, I’ll take you up on the Frasier number over .235. Winner gets to gloat.

Ha, deal! Your outfield looks solid, very balanced… I don’t mind it at all, if anything you might have some average risks — Kinsler, Shaw, Frazier, Buxton, but not a bad core… I like your pitching too…

Hey Grey – would you trade a $26 Blackmon in any of the below scenarios, in a keep forever league? I’m higher on Blackmon than you, but some of these look interesting. My other keepers are very cheap, so $26 Blackmon does not break the bank for my team.

@Grey: Exactly. And it’s crazy that I’m getting upset when guys this late are getting taken before they get to me. Miles Mikolas? Nooooo I wanted him! But really this is where players can make your team.

In a shallow 10 team auction league, would to spend more and get maybe one more top player and maybe a $1-3 OF knowing you’ll have better waiver list to choose from to replace the $1 player if he doesn’t pan out and then you have an extra top 30 player?

Hey grey I was offered a big trade which I feel helps my team for my need of SP but I’m torn and would like your insight. My team is listed below for reference. 12 team dynasty format 7×7.

I was offered: Jacob Degrom, Eric Hosmer and Fernando Tatis Jr

I would give: Fransico Lindor, Lewis Brinson, Dinelson Lamet.

In this deal I would move Manny to ss Hosmer to 1b Rizzo to 2b and jram to 3b, but I’m not sure it’s good enough value to move lindor. What’s your take, and opinion if I can trust tatis to be my future SS.

Another auction question…I like to get cheap SB from 2b/CI positions. In a shallow 10 team league, the following will likely be take for $1-3? Peraza, Rosario, Anderson, Beckham, Arcia, Polanco. Do you think it’s too much risk to roster 2 of them at 2b and CI?

Hey Grey,
Looking to deal Dozier in a 12 team keeper league(keep 10)as i have Odor on the bench and think that they are pretty close to the same player minus the drag in Odors average. Was thinking of trying to upgrade my util position or fill my C slot. So looking at Dozier straight up for Bregman or Sanchez. Those look good to you? Do you prefer one or the other?

Due to some trades over the last few seasons, I had some really high picks and a lot of a lower ones. Think I did alright, really. Depending on how Andujar and Senzel turn out, they either go to NAs or make me go get some SPs and/or RPs.